Norbury murder case ready for closing arguments

The jury is expected to begin deliberations this morning in the murder trial of Billy Norbury, who is accused of shooting and killing his Redwood Valley neighbor, Jamal Andrews.

Norbury, 34, faces a murder charge with a special allegation that he used a gun to kill Andrews, 30, on the night of Jan. 24. The jury received its instructions from Mendocino County Superior Court Judge John Behnke on Wednesday afternoon, and the defense and prosecution are expected to make closing arguments this morning.

The jury's first task will be deciding whether Norbury is guilty. If it does convict, Norbury's Ukiah defense attorney, Al Kubanis, will present evidence to support his plea of not guilty by reason of insanity (commonly called an NGI plea), and the jury will retire a second time to decide that matter.

District Attorney David Eyster, who is prosecuting the case, asked Behnke Wednesday morning to note for the jury that the defendant changed his plea from not guilty to an NGI plea July 13, three days before he called Mendocino Major Crimes Task Force agent Peter Hoyle from the local jail and allegedly threatened to kill him.

"You better make sure I stay in here for the rest of my life (expletive), or you're gonna be a dead (expletive)," Norbury said in the recording Eyster played for the jury.

Eyster also called to the witness stand Dr. Michael Mabanglo, who testified that Norbury appeared Oct. 25 at his office, where he oversees mental health

clinicians, asking for a letter to tell the court in his divorce and child custody proceedings that he had no mental health or alcohol problems.

Mabanglo said he explained to Norbury that the clinic was for treatment, not evaluation, but evaluated him anyway using a checklist of questions.

The questionnaire asked questions about depression, anxiety and alcohol use, among other things, and Mabanglo said Norbury answered "yes" to three out of four questions about alcohol, when a positive answer to just one would trigger further questioning.

He described Norbury's demeanor during the 25- to 30-minute interview as "a little anxious," which he said wasn't unusual for anyone to feel while undergoing such an evaluation. Answering Eyster's questions, Mabanglo said Norbury didn't seem paranoid, didn't seem to be having hallucinations and wasn't, in Eyster's words, "looking around for cameras."

Kubanis had called to the stand Tuesday Dr. Donald Apostle, a psychiatrist who testified that Norbury was "paranoid (and) feels persecuted," and that alcohol aggravates the condition.

Mabanglo said on the stand Wednesday that he had initially given Norbury a 62 out of 100 on a functionality scale, indicating that he was "experiencing difficulties that were mild to moderate in his relationship, his work and legally."

Asked by Eyster about what the rating meant, Mabanglo said a rating of 59 may have been more appropriate at the time to reflect that Norbury was on "the precipice or the edge of his problems (being) more significant."

Norbury said at the time that he regularly drank two beers a day. Pressed by Eyster on the question of whether an experienced drinker could build up a tolerance to alcohol -- an assumption Kubanis had tried to refute in court Tuesday -- Mabanglo said a person can build up a tolerance, an issue he is trained to account for.

"When I say tolerance ... a person takes greater amounts to get the effect they're wanting," Mabanglo said. "They'll drink more to get the effect that they're after."

It's been clear in the court proceedings to date that Kubanis was trying to convince the jury that Norbury was quite drunk the night of the shooting, while Eyster has been trying to make a case that Norbury had enough of his wits about him to drive well, not stumble or appear drunk to anyone he encountered leading up to the shooting and to shoot accurately.

Part of the instructions Behnke read to the jury Wednesday afternoon include a clause in the law that a person who is voluntarily intoxicated isn't less guilty of a crime because he or she was intoxicated.

Tiffany Revelle can be reached at udjtr@pacific.net, on Twitter @TiffanyRevelle or at 468-3523.